Temple seeks to build monument in ‘homage’ to Satan at State Capitol

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OKLAHOMA CITY - After a monument of the Ten Commandments was built at the Oklahoma State Capitol, a Satanic group in New York City is asking to have their own monument on the grounds.

The Satanic Temple is wanting to donate a public monument to Oklahoma's Capitol Preservation Commission to "complement and contrast the Ten Commandments monument that already resides" on the grounds.

The proposed statue will be a goat figure with children at its feet.

The Satanic Temple hopes it will soon sit next to the Capitol's monument to the Ten Commandments.

"We decided to go with that because it is a fairly traditional character," said Lucien Greaves, with The Satanic Temple. "It also offers a lap that visitors can come to sit on, have their picture taken with."

The devil's image sitting beside the Ten Commandments is an odd pair, but Greaves says the monuments together represent religious freedom.

Not everyone agrees.

Rep. Paul Wesselhoft said, "I think they're trying to get our goat and I'm not going to let them do that."

Wesselhoft believes the monument to Satan won't pass through the Capitol's Preservation Committee.

"What will disqualify them has really nothing to do with Satan, as such. It's that it has no historical significance for the State of Oklahoma," said Rep. Wesselhoft. "The only reason why the Ten Commandments qualified is because at the Capitol, what we do is we make laws. We are lawmakers. Well, one of the earliest laws we have are the Ten Commandments. So therefore, it has historical significance."

The Satanic Temple says its statue carries the same weight.

"It absolutely is of historical value. Of course, everybody knows that we didn't invent the idea of Satanism, but the idea that the Ten Commandments has some premise in Constitutional Law, at no point in our history did Constitutional Law take seriously commandments such as, 'Thou shall have no God before me' or ' Thou shall not worship graven idols," said Greaves. "Not only would a Satanic monument send a clear and distinct message that America respects plurality, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, but it would also stand as a historical marker, commemorating scapegoats, the marginalized and the demonized minority, the unjustly outcast."

The Satanic Temple sent their application to the Preservation Committee.

NewsChannel 4 tried to contact committee members, but no one returned our messages.

The committee is expected to vote on whether the statue can sit at the Capitol.